Communications systems are rapidly expanding in order to increase the amount of information that may be transported through those systems. These communications systems often include different types of networking equipment, such as optical networking equipment and packet-switched communications equipment. Optical networks, such as a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), often include multiple network elements arranged in a ring. Each network element typically communicates directly with two other network elements in the ring, one network element in each direction of the ring. When one network element needs to communicate information to another network element, the first network element communicates the information to the second network element through any intermediate network elements in the ring.
Elements in the packet-switched networks typically communicate with each other and exchange packets of information. Unlike SONET networks, elements in the packet-switched network may communicate directly with multiple elements in the network. In addition, optical networks and packet-switched networks often use different protocols to transfer information. SONET networks often use the SONET protocol suite, which includes the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol suite, while packet-switched networks often use the Internet Protocol (IP) suite.
As a result, it is often difficult for a packet-switched network to communicate packet-switched traffic to another network over an optical network. The different protocols make communication of packet-switched traffic through the optical network difficult at best. Transporting the packet-switched traffic through the optical network may not be possible, which prevents other networks from communicating through the optical network.
Prior approaches to facilitating communication over an optical network have typically focused on transporting packet-switched traffic through the optical network using proprietary protocols. A problem with these approaches is that network elements from different vendors often could not be used in the same optical network. Because the prior approaches often use proprietary solutions, the network elements manufactured by one vendor may not be able to communicate effectively with the network elements of other manufacturers. As a result, adding or replacing network elements in the optical network is often difficult. Before adding or replacing an element in the optical network, the network operator usually needs to verify that the element being placed in the network can effectively communicate with existing network elements. If the new element cannot, the network operator often could not use the new element in the network. This limits the available network elements that may be placed in the network.
Another problem with these approaches is that adding the ability to transport packet-switched traffic typically requires upgrading or replacing many of the network elements in legacy optical networks. To transport packet-switched traffic, each network element in the optical network typically needs to understand the proprietary protocol. To add this functionality to the network elements, each network element typically needs to be upgraded or replaced. As a result, the cost of providing this functionality in the optical network increases.
Another prior approach facilitates the communication of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) information over a SONET network. The SNMP information is transported in SONET frames over the optical network. In particular, the information is carried in section data communications channel bytes in the SONET frames.